General

Field Manipulation

Setups

Pyramid

Situations like this should be remedied as quickly as possible in a match to avoid future complications. They can also be converted into Kaidan Setups.

Overhang

When plagued by an unfortunate sequence of next pieces, an overhang is another form of a scapegoat.

Timing

Garbage Countering

Many Tetris guideline games, such as Tetris DS, Tetris Splash, or Tetris Party, include a multiplayer feature called garbage countering. Garbage countering delays incoming garbage and adds it to a queue, which is then added onto the player's field once that player drops a piece. While the garbage is queued up, players are able to reduce or eliminate the incoming garbage lines by sending out garbage of their own. Each line sent will instead reduce the incoming garbage by an equal amount. If a player sends out more garbage than what is currently queued up, they will cancel out all incoming garbage and send the remaining lines to their opponent.

Garbage Blocking

Garbage blocking is a feature found in Tetris Online Japan which takes garbage countering one step further and will delay incoming garbage in the queue until a piece is dropped which does not clear a line. Along with the methods found in garbage countering, this also allows for reducing and delaying incoming garbage by way of combos, since combos are done with consecutive pieces that each clear a line.

Offensive

A player should be aggressive when the opportunity arises. Do not sit and counter garbage. Let yourself receive garbage and send it back. You want to send the most garbage as possible. Often, it's better to tetris after the opponent because they will not be able to counteract the garbage, either accidentally or intentionally.

If you have a chance to BtB in a short time period, don't pass it up. The more time you give your opponent between a BtB, the more likely they will have formed a plan for the upcoming garbage.

Defensive

When nearing a top out in a game that supports garbage countering try to counter the garbage as best as you can. Your opponent will not receive extra ammunition and will have to build his own tetrises. Do not waste time making many singles. Most of all, remember not to overstack.